Why We Play Games (Not Drills)
Class at GJJ looks different from most jiu jitsu gyms. This page explains why.
What Most Gyms Do
The standard format at most gyms goes like this: the coach demonstrates a technique, students drill it in pairs for 20 minutes, and then everyone spars. Clean, organized, predictable.
GJJ class doesn't look like that. Instead, the coach sets up a grappling game with specific rules, constraints, and win conditions. Both players are working toward their own objective. The rules change mid-class. Everyone plays both sides of the position. If you're new, this can feel chaotic or unstructured. It isn't. The format is deliberate, and this page explains what's behind it.
Why Games Work Better Than Drilling
When you drill a technique 50 times the same way against a non-resisting partner, you get good at that exact situation. You know where the grips go. You know the timing. But when the situation changes (and in a live round, it always changes), the technique often falls apart. You practiced the sequence, not the skill.
Games work differently. When the game has constraints that force you to solve a specific problem, you end up solving that problem dozens of different ways. You build adaptability instead of a repeating sequence. Your body learns to read the situation and respond, not just execute steps from memory.
Think about how you learned to ride a bike. Nobody gave you a 12-step process. You got on, wobbled, fell, adjusted, and eventually your body figured it out. A game-based format works the same way. The learning happens through attempting to solve real problems, not through replicating demonstrations.
Why the Coach Talks Less Than You'd Expect
In a lot of classes, the coach spends 10 minutes demonstrating and students drill for 20. The more the coach talks, the fewer reps you get.
Here, the coach sets up the game and watches. That silence is intentional. The games are designed so the right things happen without someone narrating every movement. Every minute the coach is talking is a minute you're not grappling.
When the coach does step in, it's usually to change something about the game itself, not to correct your technique directly. The game does the teaching. The coach's job is to design the game so it points you toward the solution.
Why the Rules Change Mid-Game
You'll notice the coach adjusting game rules mid-round. If everyone is solving the problem easily, the rules get tighter. If nobody can make anything work, the rules open up. This isn't the coach being indecisive. It's the coach doing their job.
The game itself is the instruction. The rules and constraints guide you toward specific skills without anyone telling you what to do step by step. Think of it like a puzzle that gets harder or easier based on how well the room is solving it. The puzzle is doing the teaching. The coach is watching and adjusting to keep you in the range where learning is actually happening.
This is also why the same game might look slightly different from week to week. The coach saw what worked, what didn't, and calibrated accordingly.
Why You Play Both Sides
Every position has two players. If you only practice one side, you only understand half of what's happening.
Playing both sides builds something that doesn't come from one-directional drilling: you learn what the other person is trying to do. When you understand what makes a guard passer's job hard, you become a better guard passer. When you feel what it's like to have your frame collapsed, you understand frames differently as an attacker. Empathy for your training partner's experience is a real grappling skill.
Playing both sides also means both people get the same amount of work. Nobody spends a full round just holding a position while their partner practices on them. Both people are solving problems.
Why It Feels Messy (and Why That's Fine)
Traditional drilling looks clean. You can watch two people repeat a technique 20 times and see clear improvement in the mechanics. Games look messier. Things fail. Nobody completes their objective cleanly. It doesn't feel as productive.
But the mess is where the learning happens. Every time you fail to complete your objective, you're finding out something about the problem. Every failed attempt is information your body is using to adjust. When you drill the same thing over and over against no resistance, you're building a narrow, fragile skill. When you solve the same class of problem 20 different ways in a game, you're building something more durable.
After a few months of training, you'll notice skills showing up in your live rounds that you didn't consciously try to build. That's what this format is designed to produce.
Trust the Format
If you find yourself thinking "I wish we just drilled this more," that's a normal reaction. The format feels less efficient because you fail more often. But the failures are the learning.
When you drill, you succeed most of the time. When you play a game that actually challenges you, you fail a lot. Failing frequently and adapting to what you find is how real skill develops. Succeeding frequently at a controlled drill feels good but doesn't build the same adaptability.
Give it a few months. The things you practiced in games will start showing up when you're not thinking about them. That's the goal: skills that work under pressure without you having to remember a sequence.
See Also
- How We Train for the philosophy of play, invest in loss, and growth mindset
- Training Modes for the different types of games and how to be a great training partner
- How the Curriculum Works for how games fit into the structure of a full class